The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-05-21
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CUT GLASS.
A New American Industry that is
Competing with the Works Abroad.
Isyracuse Standard

[Syracuse Standard
Cut glass comes high. and it is no wonder.
Down at Corning the other day saw them
making it, and though the hill-girdled viii
lage of the southern tier is a very difficult
place to reach from Syracuse, l felt repaid
for the hardship Of travel in what had the
privilege Of seeing. Corning, N. ", is get
ting bold advertisement the world over from
this industry. Until the manufacture Of cut
glass was begun there several years ago by
James Hoare, it was thought to be as much
a secret of foreign art as the making Of hair
springs forwatches. Thomas Webb of Lon
don, was the master of crystal cutting, and
on the tables of half the monarehs Of the old
world his wares have an honorable place.
Nowadays connoisseurs in these things con-
cede that as fine cutting is done ct Corning
as abroad The importation of glass in this
form has ceased almost entirely. Corning
happened to have a glass-works where a
prime article in transparency was made.
That's what took me so far out of the
world" said Mr.. Hoare, as he stood in the
midst of his treasures, clad in fir owsy
working blouse, with his sleeves rolled up.
1t is the greatest prid of the celebrated cut
ter that no man in his establishment can do
so good a job as he can himself. All his
riches will not take him out of the realm
of buzzing wheels where the glass is going
through the cutting processes. There are
seven of these all of which requires ed
labor of high order, and at none of which
can hurry be INDUCED. The prismatic intri-
cacies of the ware are completed on variety
of wheels, supplied with sea-sand and drip
ping water. The most delicate figures are
produced by the employment of wheels Of
various sizes While stood by, an artisan
was cutting in relief the crest Of the Prince
of Wales upon set Of goblets or
dered by wealthy Anglomaniac. The
three wayy plumes in this heraldic sign were
brought out with all the effectiveness of
cameo under the dainty touch of the work
man. Mr.. Hoare told me that the lead glass
used for cutting costs him sixty cents a
pound. There is loss of over 80 per cent in
weight, in producing the finished piece from
the uncut vessel. The manufacture of this
glass is in itself very interesting. The es-
tablishment is entirely distinct. All the
bulbs used in the millions of electric lamps
of the Edison plants throughout the world
are made at these works. A small army of
men were filling orders of this kind the day
| walked through. At the Corning works
the crucibles in which the glass is melted
are now being made. For years it was
thought necessary to import them, and as it
is, their manufacture is a trade of itself.
Talk about the mud-pies of our childhood,
here is where you see the Identical pranks Of
the gutter applied to valuable industry.
The wet clay Is kneaded and mixed in
troughs by men in bare feet. who give it the
required consistency by repetitions of the
process carried on for whole days. Then
the clay is rolled into strips about the diane
ter of bologna sausage, and in the hands Of
modellers built, little by little, in the desired
forms. Each crucible represents labor worth
over $1O0. They are left to dry in store
room for eighteen months before put to the
fearful test in the furnaces.